


I Don't Need You

by OlicityandKlaroline



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-19
Updated: 2016-02-19
Packaged: 2018-05-21 14:25:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6054880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OlicityandKlaroline/pseuds/OlicityandKlaroline
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hey, everyone! This week’s episode was awesome, in my opinion! I had a wonderful conversation with @deadlybingo on tumblr about the dynamics of the episode and it ended up evolving into speculating about what could happen after the dreaded potential “break up” between our beloved Olicity. We ended up coming up with a pretty good scenario, so I decided to make a fic out of it! Hope you all like it!</p>
<p>*I’m a little iffy on how much time is passing on the show, so sorry if there are any mistakes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Don't Need You

Enjoy!

 

It had been 6 months. 

6 months of a cold bed, 6 months of coming home alone, 6 months of loneliness, 6 months of silence.

Oliver had never hated silence so much in his life.

It had been hard, so hard, to see the point in continuing on, to see the point in still fighting. Darhk had taken away who he fought for. But not through violence, or killing.

But by simply telling the truth.

Because now, Felicity was gone.

She had moved back into her old place, taking her clothes and her shoes and her knickknacks and her light with her. Looking around the loft, Oliver thought, once again, that it wasn’t home. Not anymore. Because Felicity had taken that with her too when she left.

He remembered the day everything fell apart with perfect clarity. It was burned into his brain.

0o0o0

Felicity was sitting on balcony, looking out over the city. They had managed to find William and stop Darhk, at least temporarily, and his wife had disappeared along with him. But not before he had dropped a major bombshell. 

William was Oliver’s son. The little boy currently asleep in the loft guest room was Oliver’s son. And now everyone knew. And Oliver didn’t know what to do.

He saw Felicity out on the balcony. He opened the door and stepped out, but she didn’t turn.

“Felicity…”

“How long have you known?”

He sighed. “Since the mission with Savage, in Central City. That’s when I found out.”

“And you said nothing because…”

“It was the only way I could see him,”Oliver admitted quietly. “When I found out, she made me promise not to tell anyone, not even him, that I was his father. Otherwise I wouldn’t be allowed in his life.”

Oliver saw Felicity take a deep breath in, then exhale slowly. “Did you really think that I couldn’t be trusted with that secret? Oliver, keeping secrets is kind of what we do. I would never have said anything, to anyone, about William!”

“I do trust you!” he said, coming around to kneel in front of her chair, trying to look her in the eyes. “I trust you with my life, Felicity! But I just… I couldn’t take that chance! I missed out on my son’s entire childhood.” The reality of what he just said hit Oliver like a freight train. He missed everything. All the moments that a parent remembers most about their child had already passed.

“I missed his first word, his first steps, his first day of school. I wasn’t there. I wasn’t able to teach him to catch a baseball, or to play video games, or watch him grow up! Granted, I wouldn’t have deserved to be in his life to raise him, but he deserved to have a father. And I failed at that.” The more Oliver spoke, the more tears gathered in Felicity’s eyes.

“Everything happened so fast. Within a day, my whole world completely changed. I had thought Samantha had lost the baby. And then I saw her in Central City, and she had William with her… Everything just snowballed after that. I just knew… I just knew that I was going to try to do the right thing, try to make up in some small way for the fact that I wasn’t around. I saw the chance and I took it. And because of that, I hurt you. I’m so, so sorry, Felicity.”

Oliver was truly sorry for what he had done, and he knew she could hear it in his voice and see it in his eyes. But that didn’t erase the hurt. That didn’t make things right.

“Exactly how long did you think you could keep this up?” she asked, finally turning to look at Oliver. “How long did you think you could continue to run yourself ragged, going back and forth between here and Central City, trying to keep everyone happy? How exactly did you think this was going to play out? Were you going to tell me when we got married? Or were you just going to keep William a secret for the rest of his life?”

“Felicity, I-”

“Let me guess. You didn’t think that far ahead.” Felicity shook her head. “Oliver… I understand.”

Oliver’s head shot up at that, eyes widening in surprise.

“I understand that the promise Samantha made you keep placed you in an impossible position, not only with me but with the rest of the team and the mayoral campaign. I understand that you wanted to do the right thing by your son. God knows how much I wish my father had wanted to do the same thing.”

Oliver reached over to hold her hand that was gripping the wheel of her chair, but she pulled it back into her lap. She looked at Oliver and hardened her expression. “But that does not mean I agree with what you did. Not only would the mayoral campaign take a huge hit, but did you ever think about what this would do to the team? Digg, Laurel and Thea would gladly take a damn bullet for you. They are supposed to trust you with their lives, and now they’ve found out you have been lying to them for months,” the tears began to fall, and Felicity didn’t wipe them away, “and did you ever think about what this would do to us? Everyone had been going around, marveling at the fact that our relationship is built on honesty, and that we never lie to each other or keep secrets from each other. And I really thought we were that couple. You know everything about me, from the way I like my takeout to some of the darkest times in my life. And I thought I knew everything about you. But it turns out you had a secret that could change everyone’s lives, and you didn’t say a word.” Oliver’s eyes closed at the pain in her voice.

Felicity rolled inside the loft, with Oliver following her. “I really thought we had gotten past this, Oliver. I thought that you were in a good place, a place where you could finally trust the people around you. I thought you finally understood that you weren’t alone anymore. Clearly, I was wrong.” Felicity went over to her purse, getting out her phone. 

“Felicity, what are you doing?”

Felicity paused in texting, closing her eyes for a moment. “I’m staying with my mom tonight.”

“What? Why?” 

“Because I can’t be around you right now! Not with everything that’s happened! I just… I need some time, Oliver. Time to think.”

“About what?”

“Everything.”

“How much time?”

Felicity sighed. “I don’t know.”

With that, Felicity wheeled herself out the front door.

And she didn’t come back.

0o0o0

The next day, Donna came by to pick up a few of Felicity’s things. “She’s gonna stay with me for a few days, Oliver. Look, I know what happened between you two, Felicity told me. I really hope that the two of you can somehow work this out, in time.”

“Thank you, Donna.”

Then Donna left as well.

A few days turned into a week. Which turned into a month. Oliver had tried over and over to talk to Felicity, but she wouldn’t budge. Digg, while pissed that Oliver had kept such a secret from him, understood where Oliver was coming from. As a father himself, Digg knew exactly the lengths a father would go to to protect his child. Laurel took more time. She even took a break from the team and focused exclusively on her assistant District Attorney work. However, an enlightening talk with her father brought things a little more into perspective. She was not ready to forgive him yet, and neither was Diggle. But they understood. 

Felicity had been spending more and more time at work, hanging out with Curtis and working on her projects as CEO. Not a day went by that he didn’t want to go to her and talk to her, but he knew it would only push her further away. Not to mention if he checked up on her, she would know and then he would never be able to find her. So he waited.

0o0o0

Oliver was in the loft, working late on the mayoral campaign. The loft was almost eerily silent, except for the quiet rustle of papers that Oliver moved around on the table. That was why Oliver heard the click of heels long before whoever it was reached the door. He looked up when the knob turned, expecting to see Thea or Laurel, but he froze when he saw Felicity walk through the door. Because she was walking. 

She took a few steps into the loft before she noticed Oliver sitting at the table. Seeing him, she paused, took a deep breath, and said, “Hi, Oliver.”

Oliver got up slowly, not quite understanding what he was seeing. “Felicity, what… H-how are you standing up right now?”

A slight smile formed on Felicity’s face. “Curtis’s early wedding gift. It worked. Though it took me a while and a hell of a lot of physical therapy until I could actually use my legs again. I lost a lot of muscle mass in my legs and I had to build it all up again so they could bear my weight. But I’m walking again, Oliver. I’m walking again!”

Oliver didn’t care that they hadn’t been together in 6 months. He didn’t care that they had so much to talk about. He rushed around the table and swept Felicity up into his arms, hugging her tightly to him, his relief at having her near palpable. Oliver felt Felicity’s arms wrap around him just as tightly, the two of them taking a moment to simply revel in the fact that Felicity was healed. 

After a few moments, Oliver felt Felicity pull back, so he let her go and took hold of her hands. “Felicity, I am so sorry that I wasn’t there to help you get back on your feet. Literally. If I knew that you were doing, I would have been there to help you every step of the way.”

“I know, Oliver. But the thing is, I didn’t want you there.”

Oliver’s face fell at hearing that. Why would she want him there? He had hurt her so much. Suddenly he felt a hand on his cheek. Surprised, he looked up to see Felicity smiling softly at him. “Oliver, I didn’t mean it that way. Look, during our time apart, I did a lot of thinking.”

“And?” Oliver asked softly, not sure if he wanted to hear her answer. But he knew he needed to.

“Do remember when we rescued Ray, and we had that conversation about healthy relationships?”

“Yes, I do,” he said, smiling at the memory.

“I realized that even though I found myself in you, I lost that part of me that would be able to go on without you. Oliver, with what we do, any one of our missions could be our last. And as much as I don’t want to, because I hate the thought of you hurt or worse, I let myself forget the potential cost of what we do. We were in such a good place that I began to believe that it would always be that wonderful all the time. But that’s not what relationships are. They’re messy and they take effort and they do things you never thought you would. And I forgot that part of us.”

“I think I might have forgotten that as well. I was so caught up in our little bubble of happiness that I thought it would never pop. But it did,” said Oliver sadly. 

“Yes it did. And that ended up being the best thing for us.”

Oliver looked at Felicity, wondering how she could possibly think that being separated for 6 months was a good thing.

Felicity and Oliver were still holding hands, so she drew him over to the couch, where they both sat down. Taking a deep breath, Felicity began.

“For the first few weeks, I was so mad at you. Our relationship was supposed to be built on trust and honesty, and the fact that you lied not only to me but to everyone felt like a slap in the face of all the progress we had made as a team.”

“Felicity, I never meant for-”

Felicity laid her hand on his arm to quiet his response. Oliver immediately took hold of her hand and held on tightly. “Oliver, let me finish, otherwise I’ll never get this out.”

He nodded.

“I do understand that you were trying to protect your son, but you do realize that if we had known about him, he would have been much better protected, because he would have had not one but five people looking out for him, don’t you? We all could have watched over him, kept him safe.”

Oliver hung his head. 

“Now, I’m sure that you’ve been agonizing over this for the last 6 months, trying to think of another way you could have done things and generally taking on all the blame.”

Oliver smiled slightly at that. She knew him so well. 

“But did you ever take a moment to stop and take the win?”

Oliver looked at Felicity, confused. 

She smiled softly. “We saved William. We got your son back, and actually managed to beat Darhk at something since we began going up against him. Your son is okay. You didn’t fail him.”

Tears gathered in Oliver’s eyes suddenly. He had been so worried about Damien’s next move, and so scared that William would be used as a target, that he never allowed himself to think that saving William was a major win for both Team Arrow and Oliver as a father. 

Felicity continued, “Once I had some time to sit back and really look at the situation as a whole, and after I had some major heart-to-heart with Quentin and my mom, I found that while I sure as hell didn’t agree with what you did - and we totally need to talk about that, by the way - I understand where you were coming from.”

“Thank you, Felicity,” said Oliver, squeezing her hand gently. She squeezed back, but said, “Don’t thank me yet. I’m still not done.”

Oliver took a breath, ready for the rest of what she had to say.

“When I got the spinal surgery to put Curtis’s bio-stimulant in my spine, all I wanted to do was have you with me. I wanted you to hold my hand, the way you’re doing now,” she said, stroking the backs of his knuckles. He relished in the feeling of her skin against his once again.

“But then something happened. Once I went through physical therapy and was finally able to walk on my own, my mom hugged me and said, ‘You did it!’ And that’s when it hit me.”

“When what hit you?”

“I did all of that: the surgery, rehab, walking; I did that all on my own. And going through all that made me realize that… I don’t need you.”

Oliver froze at those words. His worst nightmare was coming true. She didn’t want to be with him anymore. 

“Oliver? Oliver!”

He shook himself out of his thoughts to see a soft smile on her face. “Didn’t I tell you to let me finish?”

He nodded.

“As I was saying, I don’t need you. Not the way I did before I left. Being apart from you for the last 6 months has let me see that if I had to, I can get by just fine on my own. But that’s not why I’m here.”

Felicity scooted closer to him on the couch, her knees touching his leg. Her face was only a foot away from his now.

“I’m here, I’m back because while I may not need you, I want you. I want to be with you. I want to marry you, and have children with you, and grow old with you by my side. I want to be there when you become Mayor, and I want you to be there when I take over the world with Smoak-Queen Technologies.” Both of them laughed at her attempt at humor. Until he realized what she said.

“Smoak-Queen Technologies?”

“Well, despite the fact that many women take on their husband’s name when they marry, I think I’ll at least hyphenate.”

“You…you still want to marry me?”

Felicity smiled with tears in her eyes and reached into her coat pocket for the engagement ring that she hadn’t worn in 6 months. She handed it to Oliver.

“Didn’t you hear the speech? It was a pretty good speech. Yes, I do still want to marry you, Oliver. I choose this and I choose you. I want to be with you for the rest of my life. I’m not here because I can’t live without you. I’m here because I no longer want to.”

She held her left hand out to Oliver, and he slipped the ring back onto her special finger. Looking up at her, Oliver couldn’t help but kiss her. She returned the kiss just as enthusiastically. Breaking the kiss, they pressed their foreheads together, happy just to be in each other’s presence. 

They still had a long way to go. But somehow, Oliver knew that they would be fine.

 

Wow! I hope you all liked it! And I want to give a big thank you to @deadlybingo for all the help you gave me on this fic! You caught all the things I missed and gave me great feedback! Thank you!


End file.
